Royal Temptations

Chapter 4

I'm sitting at my friend's work while I write heck yeah.

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Junmyeon's POV

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Prince Yixing, what the hell were you doing to me?

Every time I was around him I felt like I was slowly losing my sanity. But the strangest part of this whole ordeal was that if anything were to take him away at this point, I think it would mess me up worse. It was almost like something squeezed my insides every time I even thought about it. Even now, despite the fact I knew he had to return to his home country in a few weeks, I was already dreading that fact.

"Sire?" I looked up to Heechan. I waved him off, not in the mood to play his game of twenty questions. Yixing looked at me in confusion, but I just flashed him a smile. He glanced down, his cheeks dusting pink. Cute.

What? I shook the thought aside. Stop that Junmyeon. You've long grown passed that stage in your life. Or so I told myself. But I knew that whatever feelings I still had left from my early teenage years weren't fading, even though I tried to tell myself they were. I just had to hope and pray I could get passed it. I sighed, suddenly not hungry once again. I pushed my food around on my plate.

"Sire?" Heechan tried hesitantly. I glanced up at him. "There's a matter that needs addressed, and since your father is away on business..." He trailed off. I rose. That meant the matter fell on my shoulders in my father's place. "There's been a bit of a dispute," Heechan continued as we exited the dining hall.

"Where?" I asked, but he shook his head.

"The countrymen have arrived at the palace," he replied. "They've been instructed to wait for you." Another sigh escaped my lips and I nodded. I pushed open the doors of the throne room, scanning the three unfamiliar faces. They all rushed me at once. Before they could utter a word, however, I held up a hand.

"I will not have you talking over yourselves like a bunch of children," I said calmly, in what Heechan liked to call my "authority voice." I pointed towards my throne. "I'm going to sit down. And then, and one at a time without interruptions, may you tell me what's going on." I strode to my throne, sitting down carefully, aware of everyone's eyes on me. I beckoned the trio forward. They came wordlessly, clustering around me. "You," I pointed to the first man on the right. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I want to build on my land," he explained. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the third guy opening his mouth to interject. I shot him a withering look, and his jaw snapped shut. "It would be an addition to an already existing building."

"But Your Majesty," the second guy cut in. I closed my eyes and mentally counted to five. "His building rests on the edge of our properties, and adding the addition to it would put it over the property line." I tried my best to hide my annoyance. A quarrel over land.

"Can you not just build the addition the other way?" I asked. "The way facing into your property?" The first two men shared a glance.

"I hadn't thought of that," he mumbled sheepishly. I simply waited, letting him come to his own conclusion. "Yes, that would work," he agreed at last.

"Then the matter is closed," I said, waving a hand. "You are dismissed." A guard quickly ushered the three of them away, and I turned to Heechan, who had remained silent through the whole thing.

"You did well," was all he said at last. I inclined my head. "You can go back to relaxing now. That was the only thing I had for you. If something else comes up, I'll ring." I nodded, rising. I found my way back to the dining hall, peeking inside. Yixing sat with Luhan, talking comfortably. His gaze flicked to mine, and he broke into a huge smile.